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Safe Schools/Healthy Students

In 1999, the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice embarked on a unique and unprecedented collaboration, creating the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative (SS/HS) in response to rising concerns about youth violence, substance abuse and school safety. This Federal grant recognizes that violence among young people is caused by a multitude of factors—including early childhood, family life, mental health, and substance abuse issues—and that no single action can be counted on to prevent it. As such, the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative takes a comprehensive approach, drawing on the best practices and the latest thinking in education, justice, social services, and mental health to help communities take action. To date, SS/HS has provided services to over 13 million youth and more than $2 billion in funding and other resources to 386 communities in all 50 states across the Nation.

SS/HS states and communities use the SS/HS framework to plan their work. Built upon the latest research and literature on violence prevention and behavioral health, the Framework provides a structure that can help replicate the success of the SS/HS model. For more details about the SS/HS Framework and how it can be used to assist communities engaged in this work, click here.

Findings from an evaluation* of SS/HS shows that the model works:

• More than 90 percent of school staff saw reduced violence on school grounds and nearly 80 percent reported that SS/HS had reduced violence in their communities.

• There was a 263 percent increase in the number of students who received school-based mental health services and a 519 percent increase in those receiving community based services.

• Nearly 90 percent of school staff stated that they were better able to detect mental health problems in their students.

The contents of the National Resource Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention website were assembled under a cooperative agreement from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to the American Institutes for Research (AIR).

This website is operated and maintained by AIR and is supported by grant number 5U79SM061516-02 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA). The content of this website does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of SAMHSA or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).